Lost In Bali

Yesterdays trip back to the kampung turned into something of a family outing. Wayan’s 83 year old mother, Wayan and her 17 year old son, wanted to join us on the outing. And why not? The more the merrier as far as I’m concerned. I hired a larger car to accomodate us all and made up a picnic. Everyone was excited as we set off and things were going splendidly until Wayan’s mother began feeling car sick. This dear old lady has only ever been inside a car a couple of times in her life. The last time she visited Wayan’s in-laws kampung was 18 years ago and that was a 2 hr journey on the back of a moped. No surprise then that with the winding, jungle roads and long journey she started to visibly turn green. Eventually after a number of emergency stops we arrived. Serena and I were whisked away by the neighbours and invited into their homes. We where proudly shown bedrooms, living areas and endless family photos. It was quite overwhelming and very touching. Bananas, water and krupuk (Indonesian crackers) were placed into our hands. Judging from the excitement, I suspect that we maybe the first westerners to ever visit this kampung. We stayed briefly to say hello to everyone and then left the family to their happy reunion. Our plan was to make a circular walking tour of the perimeter of the jungle and end up back at the kampung.

I’m not going to lie, geography is not my strong point and clearly neither is orientation, we ended up getting horribly lost. We never made it back to the kampung, instead we had to be rescued from the outskirts of Ubud. I have no idea how many miles we trekked but since we were out for over 3hrs it was probably a fair distance.

Here are just a few of the wonderful sights that we saw along the way.

38 thoughts on “Lost In Bali”

I’m laughing Martha! The rescue was nothing special, no knights in shining armour! A quick phone call to Wayan to alert her to the fact that we miles away and please could she tell the driver to come and get us!

It was definitely worth getting lost. So many wonderful things to see, not least the incredible sounds coming from the jungle. Squawks, hisses, buzzing noises. It was a very special day xxx

Gorgeous photos Lottie! Beautiful little cow face… I was wondering how they get those strings through the nose though? Does it actually go in one side and out the other through their nasal cavity? I was looking at one up close but couldn’t figure it out.

Thank you Jody and I’m happy that you liked my visuals of the lost walk!

In answer to your question, it’s a little grim. When the calf is a few months old and its horns are starting to bud, they cut a hole with a sharpened bamboo through it’s septum and then pass the rope through the hole. It’s not pleasant and it is extremely painful for the animal as no anaesthetic is used.

I’ve had a steep learning curve regarding animal welfare here since I’ve been living in Indonesia. There are many things that I find quite horrible and contrary to my way of caring for animals. Please don’t ask me how the kampung pigs are killed, it’s not nice.

In the same vein I find it quite extraordinary that young children and babies are taken around on motorbikes with no helmets. Everyday so many people die on the roads here. The problem is poverty and lack of education. Helmets are expensive and medicine for animals is expensive. Money is very tight for most Balinese.

The Bali that I show here is a long way from the luxury villas, hotels and beach resorts of the south, the wheatgrass health drinks and yoga mats of Ubud, or the comfortable area that I live in close to Sanur.

Whoops! Sorry Hayley. I’d be just the same if I saw a photo of a rat. I should have put a spider warning out!

As you know I’m not worried in the least about spiders but I did get a shock when I bumped into this big guy. I was actually taking some photos of some flowers at the side of the track and was I went in closer, my arm brushed against the web. I looked down and there he/she was. I spotted quite a few of them when I was out. I know you hate them but you’ve got to admit these ones are pretty funky! 😀

I’ve never seen spiders like these before but there were quite a few. Their colours are fantastic. I’ve not heard of wolf spiders, I’m going to have to shoot straight over to google images after this and check them out!

Thanks for getting lost Lottie, it’s a true delight to see your wonderful pictures of everyday, simple living. Yesterday afternoons awful event in London has left everyone reeling, highlighted so graphically by the media and mobile phone footage. Your images make me smile. 🙂

I read all about it this morning and then listened to the reports on the world service. It was such a brutal and horrific attack. I can imagine how it’s sent shock waves around London especially. I can’t stop thinking about the man who was killed and his poor family. It is truly terrible. The woman who stopped by was so brave, what extraordinary courage.

I really enjoyed your account of the day. You may have more people telling you to “get lost Lottie”. But I’m sure its meant in the best possible way. Beautiful images of a part of the world I have never seen. People are so beautiful all around the world.
We see the same lack of safety precautions for children in Mexico, but over-protection in many western countries. Oh for a responsible balance. Great post. Thanks

I totally agree with you Just Rod. Health and Safety in the UK is at times an absolute pain in the arse, really over the top and very annoying especially if you are an employer but, having said all of that those rules and regs are there for a reason. If it stops people being hurt and injured and saves lives then that can only be a good thing.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the helmet problem here and I wondered if there might be some scheme where you could rent helmets cheaply rather than buy them. A sort of helmet pool. There must be a solution round this problem. I know helmets don’t stop broken limbs or worse but they do help. Everyday I see people getting hit, or knocked off their bikes. Today it’s been pouring with rain and there was a nasty accident when I was out shopping.

I’m back to Jakarta next week so I’ll try and lose myself there. It will be like going from one extreme to the other. Thanks as always for your great comments 😀

Wow, wow, wow! Gorgeous photos, Lottie. Amazing! I’ve left a few comments here and there, but I actually could have commented on each and every one. The photos of the children are beautiful. And that spider is incredible! Yeah, they’re a bit scary, but how cool are they? Wonderful, enjoyable post. xoxo

More up close and real, Lottie. We are getting quite a fine picture of life in Bali thanks to your walkabouts and imaging. Of course, you might guess the butterfly and spider would be my favorites, but it is great to see so much of what Bali life is all about.

I’m glad you enjoyed the lost walk. I did think of you when I was out and about taking photos. I thought ‘Oh hell, none of my flower pictures are going to be anything like as wonderful as Mr Gingold’s ! I’m not kidding, I even had a little lol to myself 😀

Lottie: I love your blog and all your Bali posts, especially this one. I’ve nominated this post for the BEST MOMENT AWARD. To receive the award, go to my blog for the rules to accept it. The logo to add to your site is available for download at MomentMatters.com/Award. Congratulations, You have a wicked sense of humour too which is great, Rod

You are kind, thank you so much Just Rod. I feel very honoured and very flattered that you have nominated this post for the BEST MOMENT AWARD. Thank you for thinking of me, it’s much appreciated. Lottie 😀

Lottie, it is strange that I somehow did not receive notice of your post or it is late to arrive. But just awhile ago, I sent you a book/tome/doctorial essay/whatever!

Just Rod is a very nice person and he sure knows people. And for certain he knows how to pick great posts. This one is wonderful. Have you noticed I know, no other better descriptive word, than wonderful.

Everyone has put their spin on this post so there is not much to add. But I do know that this is one for the money and so worth the reading and the viewing. You put lots of effort out when getting lost. This was not a “lost, cause.” 🙂

Awww! you are kind Yvonne and thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I was thrilled to be nominated by Just Rod! Wonderful is probably my most overused word – I need to get a thesaurus out and widen my vocabulary.

Don’t worry about finding this post a bit late, sometimes they do go astray, I don’t always find yours in my in-box so unless I go to Reader and check I may have missed a few, I hope not though.

I went out today for another jungly walk and when I got home at 5pm I was exhausted. I went for a siesta thinking an hour will do me fine and I didn’t wake up until 3am – now of course it’s the middle of the night and I’m wide awake. There is an almost full moon up in the sky and which is so bright that it seems almost like daylight. Very beautiful 😀

Oh yes. Full moons will keep one awake especially if the blinds or shades are not closed. You are getting all kinds of exercise and that is a good thing. You’ll get to used to all that walking after awhile.